BIG GEORGE THE KNOCKOUT MACHINE. HE WAS FEARED BY ALL INCLUDING MUHAMMAD ALI. HE DIED MARCH 22, 2025.

I met Muhammad Ali in 1967 in Washington, DC on the campus of Howard University. He was touring the country visiting college campuses, and talking to black and white students about racism in America. He explained why he refused to join the United States Army to fight in a war against the Viet Cong. Ali made it clear, he had nothing against the Viet Cong, they had never called him a nigger!

TOMMIE SMITH AND JOHN CARLOS 1968 MEXICO CITY

In 1968, there were medal winners who were unhappy with Big George Foreman walking around the ring waving an American flag after winning a Gold Medal. This was especially true after Tommie Smith and John Carlos, America’s track and field athletes were sent home after famously raising their black-gloved fists at the Summer Olympics during the playing of the National Anthem and medal ceremony in Mexico City.

This was a powerful act of protest against racial discrimination and in support of the Civil Rights Movement in America.  The protest was comparable to Ali saying, “Hell No, I Won’t Go” to the U. S. Army.

Big George walked around the ring celebrating with a USA shirt and waving an American flag. The act did not set well with John Carlos and Spencer Heywood (basketball). They were just two of several medal winners who were not “Happy Campers.” This was Big George doing it his way.

I met George Foreman in Washington, DC in 1969, shortly after he just turned pro. My attorney Harry Barnett was representing him. Harry called me one evening and asked me to meet him at his office there was someone he wanted me to meet. It was Big George.

He celebrated his first professional win with a three-round knockout in New York City. I joined Harry, Bob Wayne, Mo Taylor, and several other friends at ‘The In Crowd’ Duke Zeiberts’ Restaurant on Connecticut Avenue in NW DC. We celebrated, Big George’s successful boxing debut.

DC became his second home. He worked out at Billy Edwards’ Gym at 9th & S Streets, just a few blocks off of Black Broadway (U Street corridor) in NW DC, landmarks: Howard Theater, Bohemian Caverns, Ben’s Chili Bowl, etc.

I hung out at the gym with a few regulars like Petey Greene (Emmy Award winner, radio and TV), and boxing legend, Calvin Woodland. I was working as a Roving Leader for the DC Parks & Recreation Department with youth gangs and at-risk children. Some days after school I would take a couple of kids to the gym to let them watch Big George and other fighters work out.

George would always say to me, “I used to be a knucklehead like those kids you are working with!”

I did not realize how big a knucklehead he must have been until I took him to Harrison Elementary School one day to meet Mr. Cuzzins, the Principal. The school was directly across the street from the old Children’s Hospital at 13th & V Streets, NW. He told Mr. Cuzzins, and the kids his life story.

Harrison Elementary was the school I took Sugar Ray Leonard to when he had lost his way!

We were walking back to the gym, and I asked him about his celebration in the ring in 1968. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “Man did you hear where I came from? I was in Mexico City participating in the 1968 Olympic Games, and I won the Gold Medal. I could have been in jail or dead. I was proud of Tommie and John, my celebration had nothing to do with disrespect.”

I understood George’s celebration. I was invited to the White House in 1969 to meet with President Richard M. Nixon. We met at the Burning Tree Golf Course in 1957; I caddied for him from 1957 until 1958. The golf course relationship changed my life forever. I look back to 2025, and I am still honored by that invitation and the thousands of young people I have touched in this Game Called Life!

Comedian/TV host Bill Maher has been one of the loudest critics of President Donald Trump, he was invited to the White House by Trump for a one-on-one sit-down.

Maher’s said, “It is the White House and he is the President of the United States. I am honored.”

I went from a one-room shack and an outhouse on Douglas Street in NE DC to a White House in NW DC. I understood George’s celebration in Mexico City. How many of us can pick ourselves up by our bootstraps (no boots), win a Gold Medal, or be invited to the White House by the President of the United States. I was honored!

President Richard Nixon and Harold Bell hanging out in the Oval Office

“Harold Bell may be the only black guy living who ever grew up in a ghetto, in real poverty, but still never learned to Play the Game, that great American past time. Everybody plays the game to some degree. That’s what success is all about. Playing the Game. Being alternately malleable and assertive with the right people at the right time. Bell never learned. If he had, given his drive and single-mindness of purpose, Bell would have probably been dangerous.” J. D. Bethea/Washington Star News (1974)

Big George and Bell hanging out at the Job Corps Center in SW DC

It would be 1972 when Harry Barnett, and Washington News sports columnist J. D. Bethea would let me hitchhike to Cleveland, Ohio with them for a charity boxing exhibition. Muhammad Ali was the headliner. I was in the car before they could say, “OK!” This would be the ride where Ali would open doors for me, I never thought possible.

When we arrived in Cleveland, at the hotel, Ali was surrounded by media, Harry, J. D., and I tried to walk around the noise when Ali yelled, “Harold Bell what are you doing this far away from DC?”

I was stunned, that Ali remembered me. It had been five years since we first met in DC. All eyes were on me, I waved and kept walking. The first thing that crossed my mind was, “I have got to get him on Inside Sports.” I never dreamed it would be Inside Sports and a one-of-a-kind exclusive interview after The Rumble in the Jungle.

PIONEER AND TRAILBLAZER: INSIDE SPORTS

Ali’s shoutout introduced me to all of ‘The Usual Suspects’, his brother, Rahman (my favorite person), Lloyd Price, Howard Bingham, Don King, Gene Kilroy, and others.

In the meantime, Big George was moving up the ladder to boxing immortality. He was knocking out everyone who had nerve enough to get in the ring with him. He and Ali were on a collision course.

THE FOREMAN BROTHERS IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS

In the meantime, brother Roy and I became great friends after my trip to Cleveland we would cross paths in Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and other fight towns.

In 1974 I bypassed Ali’s invitation to Zaire, I was scared to fly over the ocean. It was my best decision yet.

After retiring from boxing in 1977, after his devastating defeat to Ali in Zaire, Africa difficult times followed. He experienced financial hardships. Life became a boxing ring again, but everytime he was knocked down, he found a way to get up.

That’s when George realized there was only one way to get the money he needed. He had to get back in the ring.

George set out to comeback and become the world heavyweight champion once again, but it was not just for him, it was for all those kids who depended on him at the youth center he built and his own children and their future. Fighting for them gave him the strength and the motivation he needed to come back and make it.

It would be 20 years later, in November 1994, that Roy and I were at the fight in Atlantic City. Big George made boxing history. He was in the right place at the right time: Atlantic City, N.J.

Against all odds, George shocked the boxing world with a stunning 10-round knockout of Michael Moorer. He knocked out Moorer in the 10th round to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. He never looked back after that.

It was a tough night for another friend, Prentis Byrd (Kronk Gym), who was rooting big-time for Moorer. It looked to me like Moorer had the fight won. He was ahead on all three judges’ cards into the 10th round. I still have no clue, who advised him to stand with Big George and slug it out.

Unlike most, George never forgot. He was a regular on Inside Sports and recorded promos for my talk shows.

ENTER THE GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL

The George Foreman Grill, was not the brainchild of George Foreman. An inventor by the name of Michael Boehm designed the grill with a floating hinge and slanted grilling surface to accommodate various food thicknesses that drain fat.

Big George became the face of the grill through a successful endorsement deal, making it a household name.  It is estimated, he sold 100 million grills with his newfound personality and smile.

THE THREE KINGS

Nothing should ever surprise us what comes out of a boxer’s mouth, but I was surprised to hear Mike Tyson say, “I can never forgive George Foreman for the way he treated Muhammad Ali.” I was waiting to hear him call the name of, the notorious Don King.

My message to Mike; “George sold 100 million grills and Don King stole $100 million from you. You are hating on the wrong one!”

Mike, is there a look of hate in this photo–these two brothers loved and respected each other!

In his early days, George was just an arrogant young big-mouth athlete still on training wheels learning how to become an adult.

Ali and I met in Washington, DC in the summer of 1975. He was named “The Athlete of the Century” by the DC Chamber of Commerce. We sat in his room for over an hour talking about the people he wanted to apologize to for saying terrible things about them during his career, Sonny Liston, Malcolm X, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman were all in his top 10.

Ali was always full of surprises, it was a sold-out Sheraton-Park Hotel Ballroom with 5,000 standing-room-only crowd. He asked me to stand up and introduced me as his friend to DC Mayor Walter Washington.

His definition of a ‘Friend’, was “Someone who was always helping others and never expecting anything in return.”

I would love to be a fly on an Angel’s Wing when Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Eddie Futch, Angelo Dundee, and Emanuel Steward meet to break bread and talk about ‘The Game Called Life.’ They all did it their way, and I was an eyewitness!